French cemetery desecrated by swastikas, but not in the Jewish quarter

Only the Christian Quarter of the cemetery was desecrated by the graffiti, creating a debate on social media whether the incident could be classified as antisemitic.

By SARAH CHEMLA
French cemetery desecrated in Fontainebleau, by swastikas, but not in the Jewish quarter (photo credit: AFP FILES / AFP)
French cemetery desecrated in Fontainebleau, by swastikas, but not in the Jewish quarter
(photo credit: AFP FILES / AFP)
About sixty Christian graves were desecrated "by swastikas" in the municipal cemetery of the French city of Fontainebleau, about 60 km south-east from Paris.
The incident took place on the night from Sunday to Monday, but nothing was reported in the Jewish cemetery located next to the city's main Christian one, according to the Fontainebleau prosecutor's office.
“Sixty-seven old or more recent gravestones were vandalized with swastikas in pink, white and silver,” Fontainebleau’s mayor Frederic Valletoux told AFP, sharing pictures of the said graves on Twitter. An investigation was open for "degradation of graves".

Strange inscriptions such as "Biobananas" and "Charles" were also tagged on the graves but "no antisemitic inscriptions", said Valletoux on Twitter.

The city council announced  that a complaint will be filed by the city hall. "No claim and no spray paint were found on the spot," said the prosecution.
Paris' deputy mayor, Audrey Pulvar, on the other hand, condemned on social media "an antisemitic act that belongs nowhere," creating the polemic on social media as some called her a '"hypocrite," adding that "these are Christian graves but that's okay, we are used to counting less than all the other minorities," the French magazine Valeurs Actuelles reported. 
The antisemitic character of the incident was not established, given the inscriptions were only found on Christians' graves.
However, the symbolism of the swastikas, as well as the likely link between the words "Biobananas" and "Charles" to respectively "Shoananas" - the combination of the Hebrew name for the Holocaust with the French word for pineapple created by the well-known and condemned  French antisemitic Dieudonne - and Charlie Hebdo -  the infamous newspaper that was bloodily attacked in 2015 - is noticeable.
Some other politicians reacted to the "degradation," among them France's Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin who wrote on Twitter that he was "disgusted by the desecration of the cemetery", stressing that "everything will be done to find the authors of this ignominy."

"Abject, odious ... words are not enough to condemn these profanations which remind us, once again, of the importance of our fight against hatred," also reacted President of the French President Emmanuel Macon's party at the National Assembly, Christophe Castaner.

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For Valérie Pécresse, President of the Île-de-France region, this desecration is a “despicable act” carried out by “neo-Nazis”.

"The perpetrators of these heinous acts must be arrested and heavily condemned," tweeted Alfortville's Mayor, Luc Carvounas.



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